Saturday, May 3, 2014

October is bar none my favourite month of the year and Fall is, in my humble opinion, the best season. I've always had a thing about pumpkins, witches and Halloween. My elementary school growing up had a book about Halloween and I would constantly renew it year round. It was what cinnamon buns would later turn out to be for me, comforting. I would do anything to find what the title of that book is now. Did I mention it was in French? Oui, oui this girl went to French elementary school mon amie. (I'm assuming no men are reading this blog, if one is then my apologies, chéri).

Halloween is turning into a bad word in some school boards and I think that's unfortunate. Kids rarely dress up as it is these days. Yes, nobody needs that much candy but c'mon...it's one night of the year! And what parent doesn't love to pick out their favourite treats and eat them all before the morning use them for emergency snacks? I am not one to rock the boat though so I do my best to get my Halloween fill in my classroom without actually having to use the H word. Enter the amazing book, Room on the Broom. This book has it all-a witch, adorable animals and a dragon. The illustrations are magical and no mention of Halloween anywhere!

After reading it I came up with this art project. In a nutshell, it combines the best that paint, constuction paper and photocopying have to offer. This project took the better part of the day because it involved so many steps. My students loved it and the results speak for themselves...stunning!

Basically we picked a colour then added black and white2x to it to create tints and a shade (our curriculum expectation for Grade 2). I photocopied a picture of the witch and had my students colour it. Have you noticed anything missing from the broom? Yes, the poor marmalade cat didn't make the cut. Or wait, did make the cut. It just wasn't in my vision so I removed him. Next, they cut out brown paper to create the base of the broom which I stapled then grabbed a piece of "broom" and wound it around the stick. When the paint was dry, we added white stars, a moon and the witch.

If you don't already own this fantastic tale written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, I urge you to buy it. Your students will adore it and you'll fall in love with the characters. I can't wait to read this book to my next batch of students in October 2014! Check out the book's website: http://roomonthebroom.com/